Does Taylor leaving NDSU change anything?

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With Gene Taylor leaving Moo-U for the University of Iowa, one has to wonder if anything will have changed? Will UND and NDSU finally get to play in football? It will be interesting to see if NDSU will continue to insist on having all of the games at the Fargo Dome. Just for the record, UND went 6-0 against NDSU in all other sports. Obviously, NDSU is at the pinnacle of the FCS football ranks right now, but it would be awesome to see the two teams play again.

Tom Miller, Inforum.com -- Taylor’s move to deputy director of athletics at the University of Iowa – the newly created No. 2 position in the department – also breathes new life into the negotiations for the renewal of the University of North Dakota-NDSU football game.

The UND-Bison football rivalry has been on hold since 2003, when NDSU made the move up from Division II and UND stayed behind until joining the Division I ranks in 2007.

The recent negotiations between UND athletic director Brian Faison and Taylor certainly seemed to be at a stalemate, as was revealed by the Grand Forks Herald during an open records request of their email exchanges last month.

Bison ducking UND in football?

This doesn’t pass the smell test. Does anyone believe the bravo sierra that they’re shoveling in Fargo right now? So, NDSU doesn’t want to pay UND in football because; they’re still whining about UND not playing NDSU when they made the transition to division I FCS while UND was still Division II.

If not, then what the heck is stopping this historic match-up from happening? It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to realize that the NDSU and UND football games of the 1990’s were some epic battles.

If we’re to believe that hype from the Bison fans, NDSU would blow UND out of the water and hardly break a sweat.

NDSU is fresh off a second FCS NCAA title in a row and they can’t seem to find a date to play their brother to the north who was a mediocre 5-6 last year.

Jeff Kolpack, INFORUM --- The Bison open the 2013 season at Kansas State and host Montana State the following week. Kansas State played in the Fiesta Bowl and Montana State was a highly ranked Division I Football Championship Subdivision team all season.

“Right now, we’re looking for a type of opponent based on Kansas State and Montana State,” Taylor said.

UND athletic director Brian Faison said the thought of scheduling NDSU is currently a moot point because it does not officially have a schedule opening.

“But we would be willing to talk,” he said.

UND has 11 games and Faison said he is comfortable with the current setup and is not actively looking for a 12th opponent. Teams are allowed 12 games next year because of the way the calendar is set up.

I just don’t get it; you could sell a big arena if UND and NDSU were playing again… You can’t tell me that the Missouri Valley Conference has match-ups that would top the UND versus NDSU match-up. Heck, let’s make this happen, let's restore this once historic rivalry in the overgrown Quonset hut known as the Fargo Dome. Oh yeah, should I remind people that UND still has the Nickle Trophy in case anyone is wondering.